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Young people's exposure to gambling marketing has had a clear impact on their gambling attitudes, risk perceptions and consumption intentions. Celebrities and social media influencers (SMIs) are increasingly used by the gambling industry in a wide range of promotions. While there is evidence that these types of promotions are influential in shaping young people's attitudes towards other harmful products, there is limited evidence in relation to gambling. Qualitative focus groups (n  = 22) with n  = 64, 12–17 year olds were conducted in Australia. These investigated young people's exposure to celebrity and SMI marketing for gambling and the influence they perceived this marketing had on young people's gambling attitudes. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to construct four themes from the data. First, young people perceived that celebrities and SMIs created additional appeal and recall of gambling advertisements because they were attention grabbing and familiar. Second, young people thought that celebrities and SMIs increased the trust, legitimacy and social acceptance of gambling. Third, the use of celebrities and SMIs lowered the perceptions of risk associated with gambling. Lastly, there were suggestions to reduce the impact of celebrity and SMI gambling promotions on young people, such as bans and restrictions. This study highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach to preventing young people's exposure to gambling marketing, that not only considers imposing stronger regulations to restrict the way the gambling industry is allowed to promote its products, but also aims to counter the novel ways the gambling industry attempts to appeal to children and young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen science connects academic researchers with the public through combined efforts in scientific inquiry. The importance of involving impacted populations in health research is well established. However, how to achieve meaningful participation and the methodological impact of citizen science needs further examination. We examined the feasibility of using citizen science to understand the impact of alcohol advertising on Australian women through a breast cancer prevention project. Two hundred and eighty-two ('participants') citizen scientists completed demographic and behavioural questions via an online survey. The research participants moved into the role of citizen scientists by completing the data collection tasks of capturing and classifying images of alcohol advertising they saw online. Interrater reliability tests found high levels of agreement between citizen scientists and academic researchers with the classification of alcohol advertising brand (Kappa = 0.964, p  < 0.001) and image type (Kappa = 0.936, p  < 0.000). The citizen scientists were women aged 18 and over, with 62% between 35 and 55 years old. The majority were from major cities (78%), had attained a bachelor's degree or higher-level education (62%) and were recruited via email or Facebook (86%). The use of citizen science provided methodological gains through the creation of a unique dataset with higher levels of validity than the existing literature, which employed traditional investigator-driven research methodologies. Citizen science enriched the dataset and provided a powerful methodological vehicle to understand an environmental determinant of health. The study illuminates how public participation benefitted the research process, the challenges and the potential for citizen science to improve public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]